Healthcare Is NOT Socialism
7/17/09 - President Obama, in May of
this year responding to a question about taking single payer off the
table, you said, “If I were starting a system from scratch, then I
think that the idea of moving towards a single-payer system could
very well make sense. That’s the kind of system that you have in
most industrialized countries around the world. The only problem is
that we’re not starting from scratch. We have historically a
tradition of employer-based healthcare. And although there are a lot
of people who are not satisfied with their healthcare, the truth is,
is that the vast majority of people currently get healthcare from
their employers, and you’ve got this system that’s already in
place. We don’t want a huge disruption as we go into healthcare
reform, where suddenly we’re trying to completely reinvent
one-sixth of the economy.”
Yes, we do have an historical tradition
of employer-based healthcare, but it is a broken system. Plainly, it
doesn't work, costs way too much, and is a complete failure. Up
until the Civil Rights Movement, we had an historical tradition of
treating minorities as dirt, but Congress finally had the courage to
CHANGE that tradition and now the need to CHANGE another!
Single Payer Health Care patterned
after Medicare is what America needs. And, like Medicare, there could
be supplemental insurance for people who can afford it and desire
more extensive care. However the reality is today we have 50 million
with no insurance and the only people profiting from the situation
are a handful of powerful Health Industry companies. They're actually
hoping that Congress avoids Single Payer because, as now written,
these fat cats will only get fatter when somebody has to pony up the
cash for the premiums of the currently 50 million uninsured.
I urge you to re-read your own words
above and to realize the folly of trying to maintain an “historical
tradition.” I urge you to listen to the words of Dr. Howard Dean
and Wendell Potter on the subject of Healthcare. Both appeared this
week on Democracy Now - http://www.democracynow.org
Thank you,
Thomas Daly